Biology:Wakaleo oldfieldi
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Short description: Extinct species of marsupial
Wakaleo oldfieldi | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | †Thylacoleonidae |
Genus: | †Wakaleo |
Species: | †W. oldfieldi
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Binomial name | |
†Wakaleo oldfieldi Clemens & Plane, 1974[1]
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Wakaleo oldfieldi is an extinct species of marsupial lions of the genus Wakaleo, found in Miocene deposits of South Australia. It had three unfused molar teeth instead of two fused molars as is the case with the Pleistocene Thylacoleo carnifex.
As with Thylacoleo carnifex, this species is presumed to have used its maxillary (upper) teeth to hold its food and sharpen the mandibular teeth, the latter were also used in slicing and stabbing during eating. The premolars also had a crescent-shaped circumference for slicing.[2]
Taxonomy
A description of the species was published in 1974. It is a species of Wakaleo, marsupial carnivores also found at other fossil sites in Australia.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Clemens, W.A.; Plane, M. (1974). "Mid-Tertiary Thylacoleonidae (Marsupialia, Mammalia)". Journal of Paleontology 48 (4): 653–660. ISSN 0022-3360.
- ↑ "Thylacoleonid Genera and Species - Tertiary Genera". http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacoleo/genera/tertiary/GS_tertiary_2.htm.
External links
- Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
- Australias Lost Kingdom
- Information fromCSIRO
- A picture of the specimen's mandible
Wikidata ☰ Q3321441 entry